Midweek Randoms

*Happy Leap Day to all. 4 years ago, I was actually dating a boy who was a Leap Day Baby. To be funny, I bought him a "Happy 6th Birthday" card. (Side note- it's harder to find a 6th birthday card than one would think.) We are still good friends and of course I had to write on his wall Happy 7th Birthday. Because yes, he's never heard that one before.
*I'm pretty conservative in my nail polish choices, and for the most part, I really only wear pinks/nudes. The other night, I had a dream that I was wearing this gorgeous shade of a mint green nail polish. That's pretty much as un-Masha as you can get. (While I do love nail polishes in other colors, I'm always convinced that they just don't look good on me.) It was a cross between Bevin from Zoya

and Turquoise and Caicos from Essie.

I'm taking it as a sign that I was meant to get one of these nail polishes for Spring/Summer.
*After several months of living in the dark (literally), we finally got an electrician in to come take a look at our kitchen outlet and light and fix them. Things were getting desperate over here. At first we resorted to using the flashlight app on our iPhones and leaving the hallway light turned on when I cooked. Then when our handyman downstairs neighbor attempted to fix the light and couldn't, he loaned us a pretty bright 220v countertop lamp. That actually was bright enough to illuminate my tiny kitchen. When the electrician finally came, it was such a thrill to have a properly working outlet and light again. When he left, I spent about 2-3 minutes in the kitchen flipping the light switch on and off, just because I could! (He said that the electricity on the one side of the wall just died because the house and wiring are so old. There go all of my delusions about pretending that our house was built in the 1950's or later. We're Jewish and live in Germany. Ponder that one.)
*Husband got his outprocessing checklist and started getting his shots and other things ready for his upcoming deployment. Welp. I am so not ready for this one.
*I recently re-discovered Finn Crisps on a grocery shopping trip to a new store this week. My parents always have them in the house and it's just been so long since I've had them. I had forgotten how good they are.
*Yet another phone case bit the dust. After having no luck with Lilly Pulitzer cases, I ordered a monogrammed one. That one somehow cracked and a piece came off and it basically went bye-bye. In the interim, I reverted to my very first iPhone case- a pink metallic hard shell that came with the phone the day we bought it. It was so scratched up and peeling that it was very much meant to be temporary when I put it on. After I dropped it more times than any reasonable person ever should, it chipped off one of the edges in the case. The chip wasn't noticeable until it started to repeatedly scratch me. At that point, it was time for it to go. Since the thought of me not having a case on my phone terrifies my husband, TLS gave me his old iphone case- a plain black hardshell. It's very similar to his current case and when we have our phones side by side, you can't tell which is which. Plus the plain black is too boring for me. So it's time for me to get another case. I want to get one of the Kate Spade ones since I adore just about anything Kate Spade, and I'm hoping to have good luck with it since her hard cases are significantly thicker than the others I've had. I'm torn between these two options.

Option 1: Florence Broadhurst Octagonal iPhone Case

Option 2: Le Pavillion iPhone Case (it's hard to tell from the picture, but the bumper around the phone is pink!)

Which one should I get?

Pink Swap Goodies

This year, I once again participated in Hopsy's fabulous Pink Swap. My partner was Kate from Nautical by Nature and I had so much fun shopping for her.

I equally had just as much fun (if not more) opening my package from her. Kate always finds the cutest things and she spoiled me rotten!

The one item I did ask for was nail polish since the selection on base isn't always the greatest and nail polish in Germany is bananas expensive. Kate sent me 4 different nail polishes to play around with!

She also sent me some adorable cupcake pencils and a notepad/recipe card set, a Lilly Pulitzer photo album, and a set of Lilly Pulitzer note cards. I can never seem to get enough of stationery and pretty note cards, so these were a real treat! There was also a pink and white Jonathan Adler frame. This arrived in perfect time because I had just gotten some pictures printed and realized that I had more pictures than available frames. It now holds my favorite picture from our honeymoon. Last, but certainly not least was the adorable pink, white, and green makeup bag from Old Navy. It is so adorable and the pattern is so me. I keep a Lilly Pulitzer pencil case in my purse to organize all of the little "extras" that always seem to float to the bottom of the bag and clutter it up (blotting papers, Colgate Wisps, headphones, several lip balms/chapsticks, a pen, etc.) and mine was getting a bit small and ragged so I immediately switched it out to this gorgeous number!

Thank you so much to Kate for her thoughtful goodies and I can't wait to see what she thought of mine.

Don't forget to enter my Not Soap Radio giveaway if you haven't done so yet.

Not Soap, Radio Giveaway

It is no secret that I love Not Soap, Radio products. They are incredibly good quality, well priced, and the packaging is just adorable. I have several of their products in my rotation now (Happy Hannukah lip balm, Phoenix shower gel, ASA beauty palette) and love them all. I have given several products as gifts and even gave their beauty palettes and shower gels to my bridesmaids as part of their gifts. In a word, it's a company I love.

One thing I can never get enough of is lip product. Whether it's balm, gloss, or lipstick. Cheap or expensive. I love it all, seriously. At any given time, I have between 5 and 10 lip things in my purse. When I was sent their Happy Hannukah lip balm to review a while back, I instantly fell in love.

My good friends over at Not Soap, Radio have decided to treat one lucky Preppy Girl Meets World reader to a greeting card lip balm of her very own.

To enter:
1) Please like Not Soap, Radio on facebook and write on their wall saying that you're there from Preppy Girl Meets World and then leave a comment on this post with your favorite item from their website other than their lip balms for one point. This entry is mandatory and any entries that do not have this will be deleted.
2) Follow my blog publicly through GFC for a second entry.
3) Add my button to your blog for a third entry.
4) Like Preppy Girl Meets World on facebook for a fourth entry.

This giveaway will run until Tuesday, March 6th at midnight EST.

Thank you to Not Soap, Radio for generously providing the prize for this giveaway. :)

DIY Makeup Brush Holder

I love all of the Macbeth Collection's cute, colorful tin accessories. I could literally spend hours on there playing around with all of their patterns. In fact, on some days, I have.

When I saw these cute Bitsy Buckets on their website, I knew that I just had to have one for all of my makeup brushes.

Then I went to go check out. I was so preoccupied with figuring out which of their many patterns to get, that I never even bothered to let the cost sink in. $25 for the bucket, plus $10 for the monogram, and an additional $10 for shipping meant that I would have ended up paying $45 for something that was just going to sit in my bathroom. No thank you. Scratch that idea.

About 2 weeks ago, TLS and I were in Ikea when I spotted this planter there.

At just 1,29€ ($1.99 in the US), it was cute, and not outrageously expensive. I grabbed the one on the right with the tiny flowers and decided to order a monogram decal for it. About 30 minutes and $4 later on Etsy, I had ordered a navy blue monogram. This was all done when I was still in the car on the way to France from Ikea. (The Ikea we go to is roughly 15-20 minutes from the French border and there is a HUGE Target-type store there that has an incredible selection of wine, cheese, and fresh fruit, so when we go to Ikea, we like to make a day of it and go there too.)

When I got home, I realized that the planter was a bit too tall for some of my shorter brushes. Some twitter and google sleuthing later, I found little plastic beads similar to what they have in the jars at Sephora for $7.24 on Amazon. Since we have Prime- I ordered those right away. (Side note: the beads they use in the jars in Sephora are actually glass, and those get expensive rather quickly, so I went with plastic ones instead.)

Both the beads and the monogram decal arrived at the same time (how convenient) so of course I had to put it together right away. I used about half of the bag of beads, maybe a little more, so I would probably have been fine just buying the 8 oz. sized bag, but I wasn't sure of how much I needed at the time of purchase and decided to order the 16 oz. bag to be sure since it was less than a dollar more.

Here is the finished product on my bathroom windowsill:

In my opinion, it looks great and is definitely more reasonably priced than the Macbeth Collection ones.

Total cost of project = $13.23
planter: $1.99
monogram decal: $4.00 including shipping (purchased from here- I went with the 2" monogram in Dark Blue, Matte)
plastic beads (if you need them): $7.24 on Amazon (if you are lucky enough to live near a craft store or dollar store, you might be able to get them for cheaper)

The Real UnHousewife

There comes a point in every young newlywed's life when she puts the gifts away, frames the wedding pictures she likes, and looks all around her in horror, realizing that her husband's furniture has got to go. Unless you married the heir to the Pottery Barn catalog, don't lie, you know you've been there.

I love my husband dearly. His furniture? Not so much. Several years ago, when he was moving out of the dorms and into his first apartment in Texas, someone from his shop was PCS'ing to Japan. The family had two couches that were so old and ratty, that rather than taking them with them, they decided to give them for free to the first poor sucker airman that would take them. Senior Airman TLS at your service. These couches were a red and green tartan plaid with some holes in the cushions left there by previous family's kids. These were clearly not meant to live to see many more days. They stayed with TLS for 2 years in Texas, 2 years in England after that, and now, nearly 2 more years in Germany. He still thinks that they are great couches. What can I say? I definitely married a straight man.

These couches are the bane of my existence. I don't think I need to go into all of the reasons why. They're pretty self-evident. After convincing my husband that "frat house basement chic" was not going to be an interior design trend anytime in the near future, we started looking at couches. Boy was that painful. We are not trendy, modern people. For the most part, the apartments in the CB2 catalog are my idea of hell. German couches seem to for the most part be all modular and square. And uncomfortable. And ugly. And expensive. Gotta love the exchange rate. The worst part is, that for as ugly as they are, our couches are comfortable. For this reason, my husband has had a hard time getting rid of his frat boy furniture. Then he was told he's deploying. Suddenly, spending a grand or more on a new couch when we weren't going to be around to enjoy it just didn't seem to be a priority any more. With that said, there was no way that I could possibly throw any more throws and blankets onto my couch to cover it up. So I did what any sane 20-something with insomnia and a credit card would do. I went shopping.

In case TLS wanted to make things easier on me- obviously the couches have T cushions on them. So finding slipcovers is even harder than it really needs to be. Nevermind. I persevered and found some great slipcovers which we got in the mail today.

Now I am not a crafty, DIY type of girl. Pinterest for the most part makes me shake my head. When friends say "oh you can just make that yourself," I tremble in fear. I am a putz. A big one. The words "I made it myself" are not in my lexicon, unless you're talking about dinner.

Keeping that in mind, I decided that while TLS was sleeping, I needed to put the slipcovers on the couches tonight. Because all vital home improvements happen at 1:30am. I mean- putting a slipcover on a T cushion sofa? How bad can that be? That's like Housewifing for Idiots!

About that.

This is what my couch is supposed to look like:

And this is what it actually looks like:

our walls are actually a pale yellow- I'm not sure why they photograph looking like something that came from the highlighter factory

I'm pretty sure that if there was an UnHousewife of the Year award, I'd win it hands down.

Long Weekend Recap

On Saturday, I took the train do to Trier to meet a sweet Twitter friend there for a day of shopping and girl time. It definitely marked my growing confidence in being a German resident since I took the train (about a 2 hour ride each way) all by myself. (Mommy wow, I'm a big kid now!) TLS and I went to Trier last year for the Christmas Market, and it was one of our favorites. It was fun seeing how the town looked without all of the stalls and lights.

While we were shopping, we saw this giant Steiff teddy bear in a department store and I just had to hug him. It's a good thing I don't have a child yet or he may have come home with me!

isn't he adorable?

We went makeup shopping. A lot. And my friend showed me some awesome German brands that I never would have discovered on my own. I snapped up this makeup primer for 4,95€ and am obsessed with the texture of it. And the price of it can't be beat. Especially when compared to my Smashbox one.

We also got sushi at an incredible restaurant and then drinks at a fun bar. I may have gotten on the train slightly tipsy but that's ok. It's Fasching season here in Germany, so when I got on the train, it was covered in drunk people and empty schnapps bottles. I was just keeping up with the Joneses.

Sunday, we spent most of the day at home on the couch or in bed reading Mockingjay. Monday, we decided to go to the outlet mall here to look at Crocs for my husband to take with him on deployment (oy, I am so not ok with men who wear Crocs), and a friend of ours joined us. The rest of the day was spent with TLS bored out of his mind while we went into every single store. I got a cute pink Petit Bateau t shirt (so glad that my fashion taste has progressed so much since the 8th grade) for only 3€ and some Lindt truffles. The true glory of the day, came from the Lacoste outlet.


If you have been reading this blog for any period of time, or follow me on twitter, you by now know that I am slightly in love with a certain cartoon beagle and his little yellow bird best friend. Last year, when Lacoste and Longchamp came out with Snoopy collections, I may have gone a bit bonkers. I tried fruitlessly calling and visiting stores in several countries (Switzerland, England, Belgium, and France- thank you international plan) to try to get my hands on some Snoopy. It didn't work. It seemed that I would get a Birkin before I got a Snoopy Lacoste polo. So rewind back to yesterday when I decided to go into the Lacoste outlet to pick up some more polo shirts. Because obviously, the one thing that my closet does not have enough of is more polo shirts. To get to the fitting room, you had to walk past the children's rack. And there, on the boy's sale rack, out of the corner of my eye, I had to do a double take when I saw him. 

please excuse my nails- I haven't been able to get a manicure appointment yet

I grabbed the largest size I could find and ran into the fitting room. Thank goodness it fit because I might have started crying right there if it didn't. To make my day even better, it was 50% off the sale price. Well that's just the universe sending me a sign, telling me I have to shop now.


I spent the rest of the evening slightly giddy and repeating the words "I have a Snoopy Lacoste polo" over and over and over and over and over. Then we went out for sushi. Again. To another conveyor belt place. I am nothing if not predictable.


We got home and watched The Amazing Race. Is it just me or are more than half of the teams this year super annoying? There are always a few teams that I don't like from episode 1 every season, but this year there just seems to be so many more of them. I am happy about the team that won the first leg, but so far I haven't found anyone I'm really excited about yet. I'm also kind of surprised that there isn't a parent/child team this year.

Friday 5

Happy Friday! We made it.

Here are 5 things I can't get enough of this week.

1) SodaStream

We had originally registered for this but took it off our registry because it can't be shipped to APO addresses. After oggling it in the store every single time we saw it, we finally decided it was time to bring it home and make it a part of our family. I love sparkling water so I primarily use it for that and go through several bottles in a day now. TLS who has been lamenting the end of his ability to get fountain root beer over here, loves using it to make root beer and orange sodas. Worth every penny.

2) Buddy Fruits

Yes, I realize that this is a product meant primarily for children, but I don't really care. They are delicious and are great to carry in your purse when you need a snack but don't want to have an actual apple or thing of strawberries in your purse. As an added bonus, they are only 1 WW point.

3) The Hunger Games

I was late jumping on the bandwagon for this. I was worried it was going to turn out to be like Twilight- something that everyone and their mother recommended to me and that I ended up hating. TLS rented the first book from Amazon (I love the fact that you can rent books for the kindle now!) right before our honeymoon, and we were both hooked almost instantly. One day, I asked him how his day went, and he said "well I didn't get picked for the reaping." We read the first two books and are about to start book 3 probably this weekend. We can not wait for the movie to come out and are hoping that he won't deploy before it opens here.

4) My new wine rack

I saw this on Amazon and fell in love with it. The fact that I could actually have furniture delivered to my APO address fascinated me so I ordered it. Considering the luck I've been having with the APO (a package that was sent to me on December 29th is still not here!), we were shocked when it got here in 3 days. My husband put it together in about 20 minutes, and we were so impressed with it. It's real wood, not particle board, so it looks like it cost a lot more than it did and like something that belongs in a "big kid" house.
This is the finished product:

You can't tell from the picture, but the wine bucket is monogrammed, one of my favorite wedding gifts. The picture is from when we were in Zurich. It's on there temporarily until I replace it with one of those double frames that has our invitation on one side and a wedding picture on the other. One of the bottles that is on the left-hand side is a 1984 vintage port- from the year that TLS was born. I bought it for him when we were in Portugal and we are saving it until a milestone to drink it.

5) Love & Toast Sugar Grapefruit Hand Cream

I had never heard of this brand before until I spotted the bright pink packaging at the BX one day. I love anything pink and anything grapefruit, so I decided to go for it and buy one to try it out. I am so glad I did! It smells amazing and feels very light and smooth. I always have this in my purse now. My tube is almost out and I am going to buy my second one this weekend.

The Beauty of Blogging

A couple of weeks ago, I did this post about regretting not buying a Lilly Pulitzer dress back in 2009 and fruitlessly searching for it 2.5 years ago. Not knowing the style or pattern name did not exactly give me much to go on.

I got several emails based on that post with the name of the dress, but not much else. One day, KC stumbled upon my blog from Kelly's Korner and just happened to have that exact dress in her closet! I returned from my honeymoon to find this beauty waiting for me along with a sweet note.

apologies for the awkward photo- I just could not snap a good picture of this one

It needs a few minor alterations but I am so excited to wear it all this summer!

Feburary Sponsor Post

This year, I have decided to open my blog up to sponsors.Below are my sponsors for the month of February. Please read about them. Some of them are doing specials discounts and offers for Preppy Girl Meets World readers.

1) Kimmie Schiffel, Scentsy Consultant
The lovely Kimmie of Full Circle Adventures has joined the ranks to become a Scentsy consultant.

That is her furbaby Gabby pictured above. Kimmie loves candles but needed a more pet-friendly alternative to them when Gabby's poor little tail kept catching on fire. Since Scentsy warmer systems are flameless, they are safe for pets (and children!).

Currently, for the month of February, everything in the catalog is 10% off with the exception of several of the larger combine and save package. February is a transition month for Scentsy, with several products retiring and many new exciting products being introduced in March, so if there are any fall or winter scents that you love, right now is the time to stock up on them!

A new product that Scentsy has out this month is Scentrend. Scentrend bars are designed to be warmed with the current Scentsy bars to enhance their flavors and make them spicier. The current Scentrend bar for the month of February is Pink Pepper.

In addition, I am hosting a online catalog party with Kimmie. Any order purchased through the Preppy Girl Meets World party will automatically receive a bar of White Tea and Cactus, one of my favorite scents. You can also follow her on facebook for more promotions and giveaways.

If you are interested in becoming a Scentsy consultant, be sure to contact Kimmie. The consultant kit costs $99 but contains over $250 in products and scent testers. February is the best time to sign up because you will get double catalogs and testers.

2) Cole Creates











Cole Creates is an Etsy Shop run by blogger Cole of All the Small Stuff fame. Currently, her shop carries items that were hand knit by her. How cute is this adorable doggie sweater?

puppy not included with purchase- sadly

Currently, the shop only carries knit items, but she is in the process of expanding her wares to include t shirt gifts (perfect gifts for a college grad or your favorite sorority girl).

3) Sweet Tea Paperie
Sweet Tea Paperie is an amazing stationery and gift shop that carries so many fun items.

It really is hard to pick your favorite item from there, but I am partial to this gorgeous Chinoiserie Navy Square Tray from Boatman Geller.

Currently, Sweet Tea Paperie has a promotion on their new line of Boatman Geller phone cases:

Receive 15% off the purchase of a Boatman Geller iphone case with code BOATMANGELLER.

4) Monogrammed Everything
As the name implies, this store is pretty much my idea of heaven! Monogrammed Everything has so many great items that would make great gifts for brides, babies, and everyone in between!
At just $10 each, these monogrammed onesies are a steal and would make a great bridal shower or new baby gift.

The monogrammed clogs are an incredibly popular item and with 18 clog colors, 20 thread colors, and the options to add a high heel or painted heel, the options are pretty much endless and you will be sure that your clogs will be unique!

5) Danielle Stage, Stella & Dot Consultant

Stella & Dot is a fun jewelry company. They have so many gorgeous pieces at great price points. I'm loving these Starfish earrings for $34

this Sofia pearl bib necklace for $118

and these Baby Flower post earrings for only $21.75

6) Red Robe Designs
Red Robe Designs

My name is Bethany Toney! I am a coffee obsession, puppy lab lovin', born and raised Texas girl who just recently got married last October to a hunter/ trick shot basketball player named Tyler! I started blogging during my pageant days (no I was not a "Toddlers and Tiaras" child when I was younger ha!) and have been blogging ever since! I opened up my Etsy shop a couple months ago to show case some of my graphic prints that I started doing on the side with all my other free lance projects (save the dates, baby announcements, wedding invitations and programs!)  I have had a love for design ever since my college days, where I ended up graduating with a degree in Graphic Design and Mass Communications in 2006 and now work as a Graphic Designer for an insurance company full time! The name Red Robe Designs came about simply because I am ALWAYS in my red poka dot fluffy robe when I am home working on freelance projects! I mean if you're going to work...Why not be comfy while doing it right? :) My blog is about my everyday crazy life. No day is the same, which makes my blog posts all very different but all very fun! For all you Preppy Girl Meets World readers- You can get 20% off all 8x10 and 5x7 graphic prints by using the code PREPPY20!

Several of you fell in love with Bethany's State prints when I posted them in my Friday 5 post last month, so right now would be a great time to pick one up!

I plan on getting two- one for NY and one for Nebraska and hanging them up next to each other!



7) Stina Stitches
Stina Stitches is a cute Etsy shop that specializes in preppy needlepoint items. There is a twist to this- instead of just buying a pre-made item, you buy a kit with step-by-step instructions and make the finished product yourself. You can choose from keyfobs, belts, hair elastics, bracelets, bookmarks, coasters, and magnets. There's even a haunted house option!

I'm loving this needlepoint headband 

How fun would it be able to wear a belt like this and be able to say "oh this? I made it myself."

All of the kits in her shop come with thread, instructions, and all materials. They do indicate if you need other supplies such as hot glue or pliers to finish off the craft.

this is what the kit for the headband above looks like

Currently, Stina Stitches is offering Preppy Girl Meets World readers 15% off through the month of February with code preppygirl.

8) Southern Beaus

I first fell in love with Southern Beaus when I spotted this gorgeous monogrammed seersucker clutch from their shop on Etsy.

Southern Beaus is a company that specializes in monogrammed clutches and bow ties. How fun would it be to carry a monogrammed clutch and for your husband/boyfriend/fiance to wear a matching bowtie to a wedding or other function?

in my opinion, these would make great bridal party gifts!

This month, Southern Beaus is offering Preppy Girl Meets World readers free shipping with code PREPPYGIRL.

9) LWhelan Designs
LWhelan Designs is a super cute Etsy shop that specializes in preppy accessories and paper goods. A lot of her items are made from recycled Lilly Pulitzer fabrics. I have a pair of her Lilly Pulitzer button earrings and they are just the cutest things ever.

At just $7.50/per pair, they are incredibly budget-friendly and would be a great treat for yourself or a gift extra for someone.

I love coozies and have amassed a small collection of them. This sunny yellow coozie made with Lilly fabric is so pretty and can instantly spiff up any drink!

For the month of February, Lynn is offering Preppy Girl Meets World readers a special: like her facebook page and invite 10 or more of your friends to join. If you get 10 or more friends to like her page, Lynn will give you one pair of earrings from her shop for free.


If you are interested in being a blog sponsor for a future month or would like to know more about it, please email me at whaleflipflops {@} gmail{.}com for more information.